Abstract: Among the so--called “old adherents of the collapsed Qing Dynasty”, many of them have outstanding literary talent. Due to the ideology and the doctrine that “each age has its own typical literature”, they were labeled with “fallacy in Tongcheng school” and “evils engaged in the study of Selected Literary Works” during the Colloquial Language Movement, and rebuked as “diehards” and “reactionaries” for a long time. Except mentioned and criticized in the study of the history of the late Qing Dynasty, their literary achievement has been unfairly ignored. Their literary works are hidden in cabinets and their names are buried in oblivion, leaving no record at all in history of literature. CHEN Bao--chen is a typical example among them. As works of an “old adherents of the collapsed Qing Dynasty”, CHEN Bao--chen’s poetry is the art embodiment of his tragic character and life course. Without unfamiliar literary quotations, his poems are characterized by peace and fairness. He uses idioms and makes vulgar expressions elegant. He is so good at using words, creating atmosphere, expressing deep emotions, and using metaphors and similes that he is able to move different types of readers. He is a talent poet. He is good at the septa--syllabic verse. With unceasing flow of words, his poetic essays are full of unusual ideas organized in strict tonal patterns and rhyme schemes. His essays in ancient style of are written in a free and natural way. Those written in his old age are plain and amiable in tone in spite of the fact that the thinking is a little jumpy and the narrative is a little complicated and confused. As his best essays, the memorials to the throne written in his early age are inspired, daring, valiant and express distinctively his concern about the country.

Key words: adherents of the collapsed Qing Dynasty, style, poet, talent, memorials to the throne